Fireworks
by DoctorDash
Summary: Entry for DeviantART's GiroDoro Summer Holiday Contest. While feeling left out from summer fun once again, a depressed Dororo gets an unexpected visit from a close friend... Giroro.


**Disclaimer: Keroro Gunso/Sgt. Frog is copyrighted and owned by Mine Yoshizaki, Sunrise, TV Tokyo and Funimation. I claim no ownership to the following characters or information presented, the characters are simply my toys. Please support the official release.**

"I'm sorry for hurting you."

Fireworks  
OneShot

They say that the life of a ninja is not a happy one, and is usually over glorified. You are meant to always stay alone, sitting in the shadows while you watch the rest of the planet move without you, only thinking of others and never yourself. With your only company being your acquired skills and the Pekoponian happiness you are meant to protect at any cost.

"Perhaps that last bit is more of an adlib." The thought crossed the mind of the light blue Keronian named Dororo at least once in the darkened room. His head hung low as a sigh escaped his mouth hiding underneath the cloth covering his face. The heat of his breath clung to the material, giving him a sense of both false and cruel warmth he so desired in the dark hour. He wanted so badly for that warmth to stay with him, to give him comfort as he hid in his shadows, alone. However the heat eventually did fade into nothingness.

The cheerful sound of Pekoponian children in the distance that only a skillful ninja could hear, mixed with the chirping bird echoing throughout the sky, didn't fill his chest up with the joy it usually did. In fact it only filled him with bitter disappointment. Dororo's eyes quickly took a glance around the empty house, of course someone like Koyuki wouldn't make a single sound even if she were here, but even an alien presence would have satisfied him at the moment, his hunger to be noticed and ripped from the shadows would have been fed, if only he hadn't pushed her out himself.

The light blue Keronian blinked several times, shedding the welling tears before they could hatch. He chose to simply shut his eyes out from the world, letting his sense of sound take over, the fear of letting his true emotions show was what held him back from sobbing.

What exactly had Koyuki called this new, hair brained scheme Keroro had cooked up? The exact name was something along the lines of "Summer Holiday Fireworks Showdown." In reality, Keroro simply wanted to experience the joy of an exploding sky of colors above his head and stare in awe, according to his own speculation from what his roommate had informed him. The end of a school term meant summer festivals year round with the summer holiday starting up for the children and teenagers of the city.

His plan was as simple as forcing Kururu to make the biggest and most mesmerizing known to keronian kind, and then fire them off for his own amusement. Eventually one of the Hinata's found out, and then Natsumi had forced the sergeant to take the entire household, and then invited both Momoka and her butler, and even Koyuki. Of course this did indirectly invite him as well… but the light blue frog declined, not wanting to go if he was already forgotten about in the first place.

Dororo blinked several times again and clutched his sword at his waist tightly in a fist. He should be used to this by now… shouldn't he? He had been left behind and glanced over all his life, and yet the pain in his chest only seemed to hurt worse each and every time. He was only invited if he could be useful in some way or another, and sometimes he was still forgotten.

The keronian didn't feel like patrolling the city, or even going outside at the moment. He just wanted to shut out his mind from the rest of the world to forget the pain stabbing him deep in the chest.

Dororo's eyes suddenly snapped open; the sound of footsteps hit his sense of sound, faint, so faint that they couldn't be pekoponian footsteps at all. His eyes scanned the slimmer of light burning onto his face from the window.

As if on instinct the light blue ninja, in a flick of the wrist, flung a shuriken from seemingly nowhere, striking an object no bigger than a keronian sized fist that had been thrown in through the window. As the two items collided, the force of the shuriken flung the object out of the house, an explosion soon following.

Dororo blinked his eyes a few times. "From my experience, normally I would expect you to use something more powerful than a cherry bomb, Giroro!" He called, getting to his feet with a fist clenching the hilt of his sword.

"That so?" A rough voice called before the sign of a red head appeared over the windowsill, the fact of the red head looked at Dororo in an everlasting scowl. "Well solider, from my experience I would have expected you to have gotten behind me with sword at hand ready to slit my throat, you're getting careless just because you fight for this pathetic excuse of a planet, Dororo!"

"That might be because you're rather noisy for an assassin." Dororo said with a bit of a sigh in his voice. "I'd offer you tea if I didn't already know you would decline."

Giroro climbed through the window while grumbling rather loudly, not taking his glancing eyes from the blue frog in front of his own eyes for even a moment. His red body seemed tense as usual, with a flare of anger in him at all times. "So tell me something, why are you in here wasting away?" He cocked up one of his narrowed eyes, yet it didn't dare open the entire way.

"None of your business." Dororo answered rather defensively, turning his head finally from Giroro's. He didn't want to answer, because he would only get made fun of, or the words wouldn't reach the other. "Why are you here anyway?" The blue frog turned his head back to the red as his fist finally loosened on the sword and he let himself sit down back in the same spot as before. He knew better than to get excited that this frog was here, no doubt he would be disappointed. "What does Keroro want from me? Whatever it is you can tell him no thank you, I'm fine staying here."

"Kero… our sergeant didn't send me, in fact I didn't even head off to that stupid fireworks show of his." Giroro had his arms crossed with his head turned, eyes closed as he grumbled under his own words, that same annoyance in his voice that was always held tight, with iron bars keeping it locked in deep so not to escape.

Dororo paused. His eyes widened, and his body gave a single shudder. Did that mean… did that mean that Giroro had come on his own free will just to see him? Why would he do that, there had to be some kind of catch… what did Giroro want from him?

"Calm down, I'm not used to seeing you so excited." Giroro mumbled, able to read the blue frog like a book, arms still crossed as he began to trek across the room one step at a time. Dororo jumped, and his cheeks began to glow pink under the cloth covering his face.

"So the sergeant didn't send you here?" Dororo mumbled, half of which he was speaking to himself, as if he couldn't believe one of his so called friends.

"I just said that!" Giroro snapped, seeming as if he were getting more and more irritated by the second. He finally opened his eyes and glared at Dororo. "Listen when a keronian is talking to you!"

"So why did you come?" The blue frog asked. He was trying his best not to get his hoped up that the red frog had come for him alone with no thought of himself, for he knew it wasn't true.

Giroro paused briefly before taking in a breath. "When Keroro told us about this stupid fireworks thing, I got really pissed off, because he didn't want to plant bombs in the fireworks and let them fall on the pekoponian's, or even so much as hide the sound of our gun fire as we shoot up the sky in all-out war with the sounds of the. No, Keroro just wanted to see all the pretty lights and make them as big as ever, and shape the fireworks into his stupid toy's or something like that."

The red frog had managed to avoid the subject of the question Dororo had just asked. The ninja was about to point this out before words from the other interrupted his speech. "I didn't want to see any stupid fireworks… hell, I still don't, I want to try and plan out this entire invasion so we can finally get the job done." Giroro grumbled out the words one after another, saliva of frustration spitting out every other word. Dororo simply listened, wondering if there was a point to any of this.

"Listen…" Giroro began, grumbling out the words. "I know that Keroro didn't invite you to them… the dumb fireworks I mean…" The red assassin paused, closing his eyes as he looked down. If Dororo's trained eyes weren't fooling him, which he was convinced they were, Giroro was blushing. "So… what I'm trying to say is…" The red keronian began to grind his teeth before snapping open his eyes. "Dammit!" He hissed out before slamming his foot down and taking several steps forward, snapping out his arm in such a fast motion, that Dororo had no time to react.

"G-Giroro what are you…" If Giroro had grabbed him in any other place, his arm, his shoulder, then Dororo's ninja instincts would have instantly kicked in, and it was more than likely that the red frog in front of him would be on the ground. But he was a little too shocked at the moment to react as he felt the warmth of Giroro's hand sink into his, red fingers linking with his blue ones tightly as he was yanked to his feet.

"C'mon, let's go!" Giroro said, his head turned with a voice that seemed almost irritated. Dororo's mind hit a brick wall, and he became confused, as he attempted to figure out an answer he only hurt his brain more.

"W-Where are you taking me?" The ninja asked. His voice was small. He had no idea why, but this question was harder to ask than anticipated.

Giroro stopped. He looked down; his hand squeezing Dororo's a moment as he thought. He began to shake his head and grumble a few irritated words under his breath. "I'm taking you to see fireworks, alright?" He mumbled, turning his head to Dororo's. Both his face and voice looked and sounded angry, as if the red frog would rather be doing anything than this. But those eyes… those eyes looked sincere.

"I… I said I wasn't going to Keroro!" Dororo said, after a few seconds of shock settled in, he thought he put together what Giroro truly meant. "He didn't invite me, why should I go when he suddenly needs something out of m-"

"Idiot!" Giroro cut him off, his eyes glaring at the blue keronian. "I meant a different one, y'know, something local… or… y'know… I mean…" That same blush crept back onto the fact of the red frog. This time Dororo knew his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"You… you mean it?" Dororo spout out in a shocked tone, his cheeks began to redden under his mask.

"Shut up and come on…" Giroro snapped as he yanked on Dororo's hand once more, pulling him along like they were little tadpoles once more. When Dororo felt himself be dragged out of the window, he had no idea if he should be bursting with joy, or be afraid of Giroro's true intentions, whatever they might be.

"You can let go of my hand now…"

-

"Think we can see them from here?" Dororo asked, turning his head to the red keronian walking beside him with his arms crossed. His eyes drifted up to the spun around skull on the hat of the other. It was only a precaution, considering there weren't any pekoponians around snooping. In fact, Giroro had flown them on his hover craft inside of the danger zone. They had flown over several pekoponians in kimonos, children carrying sparklers and playing games at the summer festival.

Giroro shrugged his shoulders before letting out a sigh and sitting down. "I'm fine right here, how about you?" He asked. The field they were in was no more than two hundred feet from where the fireworks were set to launch, the more Dororo thought about it, the more excited Giroro would feel if he were closer to explosions.

"Oh… um… sure…" Dororo answered before quickly getting on his knees and sitting quietly. He still hadn't managed to sort out how he felt about this entire thing. While part of him was indeed happy, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.

The blue keronian glanced over at Giroro, who had seemingly pulled one of his guns out of nowhere and began to polish it, eyes closed as he felt the familiar gun, knowing every place to clean in order to make it shine, much like Dororo and his own sword.

Dororo stared at Giroro for a long time, the red frog not showing a speck of emotion other than his usual scowl. The warm summer air drew out the sound of cicadas around them, and the evening twilight sky was beginning to turn to dark night, soon to be filled with a rainbow of colors. The lights of the festival near them seemed to be a hundred miles away. Dororo blinked several times before opening his mouth, ignoring the dry feeling it held. He made a fist in the clump of grass next to him, just needing something to hold onto.

"Can I… can I ask you a question… Giroro?" Dororo asked, staring at the red frog for quite a long time with wide, inquiring eyes.

"Shoot." The assassin spit out.

Dororo paused, only briefly, not knowing if he wanted the answer he was seeking. "Um… why… why did you drag me out here?"

Giroro kept on polishing his gun for several moments without saying a single word, or even opening his eyes to look over at Dororo. When the blue frog opened his mouth to ask again, the red keronian beat him to it.

"Keroro pisses me off." Giroro suddenly said, cracking open his eyes into his usual glare. He stopped his hand movements for a single second before continuing. "All he does is play with his stupid Gundam toys, and make up stupid plans that only benefit him and his entertainment." The red frog glanced over to Dororo, yet didn't glance up to meet him eye to eye. "Sometimes… I get so angry with him just trying to fight him to get him to change the plans, if I had it my way I would have the entire planet conquered in a week."

Dororo didn't interrupt the red frog from his speech, while avoiding his entire question; the assassin did seem to have a point underneath everything.

"When… When I get like that… I forget about everything else that I'm so caught up in trying to help him, hoping that I can do something to make these pekoponians bend to our will, even a little." Giroro mumbled out these words, as if he were ashamed. "And… And when I do that, I don't think straight."

"I'm sorry," Dororo began "But… what does this have to do with my question?" He asked.

"Look," Giroro snapped, meeting Dororo eye to eye for a brief moment before glancing away once more, his grip on the gun was tightening as if his life depended on it. "I know that I'm only making stupid excuses, and I know that since you met him, Keroro has been doing nothing but causing you trouble, and traumatizing you… and… and all I've ever done is stand back and let him do it!" Giroro gritted his teeth and swore gently under his breath as he closed his eyes.

"Giroro…" Dororo whispered.

"And the more he's been doing it lately, the angrier I get when I realize that I forgot all about you again and again." The red frog looked like he was trying his best not to begin trembling, the work was causing him to sweat he was in such panic about it. "And… I keep thinking back to when we were kids, and I knew he was hurting you, and taking advantage of you, but I never stopped him, even once, I just let him do it because he was the leader of our group… I could have stood up for you, or even tried to cheer you up… but I didn't, either because of stupid pride or… I don't know…"

Dororo looked at Giroro for a long time, studying him as his mouth opened several times, yet words didn't come out. His eyes were shut, and he looked to be getting angry. The blue frog blinked several times as he glanced down as the grass he was scrunching. He let it go slowly, giving Giroro time, not wanting him to blow his fuse.

"I… I just… even now, things haven't changed all that much, he still forgets about you, everyone did, I did!" He half shouted these words, spitting out his feelings. "I forgot all about you, and I shouldn't be trying to make up stupid excuses…" Giroro opened his eyes once more, looking over at Dororo. "When I realized he was going to forget about you all over again this time, something just happened to me… maybe it was building up, or it just suddenly happened, but I began to be hit with this guilt again and again… and I know that me taking you here is just some stupid… selfish reason for me to try and feel better about myself for all these years, even though it isn't enough…"

"Do you… do you really mean that?" Dororo asked, his voice suddenly gaining energy. Now he felt even more confused, but surely happy that somebody was indeed apologizing for him being forgotten all the time.

Giroro swore once more. "Look, I know that this isn't enough just to bring you someplace and hope it makes everything better, but if he… if I forget you from now on… it's because Keroro pisses me off so much that I get distracted… I know that's a stupid excuse for everything… but I'm going to try to not… do that to you anymore, forget you I mean, I've been a shitty friend, I know. I want to just… I just want to say that I'm sor-"

The rest of Giroro's words were suddenly cut off as a giant explosion caused the both of the frogs to jump, and the sky began to glow down upon them. Dororo watched the rest of the sentence exit the mouth of Giroro.

Dororo looked at Giroro each time the light shined down on them. He was looking straight ahead, glaring in front of him. However his eyes, deep down looked sad, as sad as the grumpy frog could manage in front of others at least.

The blue keronian closed his eyes a moment before reaching out his hand, and gripping Giroro's hand. He felt the sudden jerk on instinct of the red frog's eyes looked at him. Dororo smiled underneath his mask, and hoped the emotion reached his eyes as well. Giroro might have been blushing again, but Dororo was as well.

"I forgive you." Dororo said, knowing the words would transmit even without the other hearing him under the explosions.

-

"Well… that's that I suppose…" Giroro grumbled out. "Those explosions really remind me of the good old days…"

Dororo followed Giroro quickly, always staying two steps behind him as they attempted to find Giroro's hover craft deep in the woods. The red frog was grumbling as he walked along, not showing a shred of the weakness he did before, he had risen his defenses full force.

But Dororo saw. Dororo saw Giroro break down, and apologize for the center of the blue frog's trauma his entire life. The blue frog shook his head as he jogged up next to the red frog. "Giroro… did you really mean that… all you said?"

Giroro glared over at Dororo, he looked irritated, as usual. He let out a sigh "Yeah… whatever… just don't tell anybody, especially Keroro!"

Dororo closed his eyes happily, smiling underneath his mask. "I won't!" He said. He looked at Giroro for several moments, examining his body. "I just wanted to make sure before I thank you."

Giroro looked over with confusion. "Thank me?" He asked. "For what, a stupid fireworks show? You don't have to, just forget it and pretend it never happened…"

"That I can't do." Dororo said. "Because I don't want to forget, and I want to thank you properly for everything!"

The red assassin let out a groan. "Fine, just say it and get it over with!" He hissed, stopping in his tracks and crossing his arms. He tapped his foot as if he were impatient.

"Can you..." Dororo began "Can you close your eyes for me?"

"What?" Giroro snapped out in his usual tone of voice. "What for? Just say "Thank you!""

"Just do it!" Dororo pleaded. He heard Giroro sigh before closing his eyes, arms still crossed as he grumbled out a few words the blue frog didn't comprehend.

Dororo blinked a few times, wondering if what he was doing was the right thing. He took several steps forward up to Giroro, looking at his face, the ugly scar across his eye stood out the most at the moment. It suited him, but not so much after the way he acted earlier. The blue frog took a deep breath before reaching his hand over his mask, pulling it down several inches as his other hand grabbed Giroro's shoulder and pulled it forward, causing the red frog to trip and his lips to land right on Dororo's. He could sense Giroro jump, and saw his eyes snap open in confusion before he closed his own. Giroro wasn't kissing him back, but he wasn't pulling away either. A sense of both excitement and rush was spreading over Dororo's body as his arms trapped Giroro at his chest. He was kissing Giroro, he wasn't sure what possessed him, maybe it was the heat of the moment, or truly a way to express the joy he felt, but he didn't regret a single thing.

As the blue ninja pulled away, he moved his head down onto Giroro's shoulder, pulling his mask back up as he hugged the red frog, who still seemed to be in shock. "Thanks…" he whispered out.

Dororo began to step away, a sense of joy and fear and a little bit of love running through his veins at what he just did. "Well, let's go!" He said, a blush on his face as he chuckled awkwardly and tried to step away.

He tried. For the moment he took a step, an arm suddenly appeared in front of him, catching him as if he were falling. He was held in place in Giroro's arm, shock now filling him. Maybe he had been too sudden; Giroro did obviously have feelings for that pekoponian, Natsumi. Should he… apologize?

"Giroro?" Dororo asked, turning his head to the blushing assassin.

Giroro's face was red, redder than usual. He had his eyes closed, as if he were thinking of something to say, anything to say. What were you supposed to say when your friend suddenly kissed you?

The red frog was hissing and growling, trying to sort out his feelings. Dororo had screwed up big time, hadn't he?

"You…" Giroro began a sense of anger in his voice that made Dororo worry. "You call that a kiss, solider?" The red frog barked out, yelling at the top of his lungs in the same manor of a drill sergeant. "That was the worst excuse for a kiss I have ever seen, the mood was perfect, a summer night after a brutal confession on my behalf, and you screw it up so easily! Now you try again until you get it right you disgrace for a keronian! I'm ashamed at you!"

Dororo took a full minute to let that sink in, and as the words began to make sense through the fake anger, his face began to turn red underneath the cloth mask. "Y-Yes sir!" He cried out, excitement burning through his voice.

His hand began to pull down his mask once more, and this time Giroro willingly kissed him back.

This summer holiday looked to be starting off finely.


End file.
